Chubb sold for $28.3B to Swiss insurer ACE

ACE Limited, a global property and casual insurer based in Switzerland, is buying Warrenbased insurance company Chubb Corporation for approximately $28.3 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced last week.

Both boards of directors have approved the definitive agreement, according to a news release, that will see Chubb shareholders receive $62.93 in cash and a 0.6019 of a share of ACE stock for each Chubb share they own. That would be a total of approximately $124.13 per share based on the closing price of ACE stock June 30, the day before the deal was announced, the companies said.

After the close of the deal, ACE shareholders would own about 70 percent of the combined company, which will take on the Chubb name.

"We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of Chubb, a venerable company with a great brand," Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of ACE, said in a prepared statement.

"This transaction advances our strategy in a meaningful way and represents an outstanding opportunity to create significant value over a reasonable period of time for both ACE and Chubb shareholders. We are combining two great underwriting companies that are highly complementary."

Greenberg will lead the combined company as chairman and CEO, while John D. Finnegan, chairman, CEO and president of Chubb, will become executive vice chairman for external affairs of North America. - Eric Strauss